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ACCOMPANYING Miss Schaw to
America were the three children of John Rutherfurd—Frances or Fanny,
John, Jr., and William Gordon. Their father, as we know, was of the
Scottish family of Rutherfurd of "Bowland," and their mother, Frances
(see Appendix VIII), was the widow of Governor Gabriel Johnston of North
Carolina, whom Rutherfurd had married in 1754. They were all born in
North Carolina and lived there, probably at Rutherfurd's plantation, "Bowland,"
at Rocky Point on the Northeast branch, until after the death of their
mother in 1768, when their father sent them back to Scotland to be
educated. As Rutherfurd was unable to leave the colony on account of his
official duties (since except for one visit in the years from 1758 to
1761 he never saw Scotland after he left it sometime before 1735), he
was obliged to entrust the children to the care of friends, and
apparently placed them in charge of Alexander Duncan, a partner of his
in business at Wilmington, who crossed the ocean at this time. Duncan
was an intimate friend of both the Rutherfurds and the Schaws, was a
Scotsman from Edinburgh, and in his will, made just before he sailed,
left money to both Rutherfurd and his daughter, to the latter "in case
she returns to this province and marries here." Duncan probably took the
children, at that time aged ten, five, and two, respectively, with him
to Edinburgh and placed them in the hands either of Rutherfurd's
relatives or of Miss Schaw, wherever she may have been living. The
Rutherfurds and Schaws were closely connected by marriage, for Janet's
father had married Rutherfurd's aunt, and her brother, Robert, had
married his eldest sister, Anne, so that it would have been natural
enough for Duncan to have done either, though the probabilities are in
favor of Miss Schaw. Rutherfurd's father had died in 1747, and his
family was scattered: Thomas and James, his brothers, and Anne and
Barbara, his sisters, were in North Carolina, and "Bowland," the
Rutherfurd estate in Scotland, had passed out of the hands of the
family. The children of John Rutherfurd remained in Scotland until the
voyage of 1774,—Fanny at boarding school, probably in Edinburgh, —when
Rutherfurd, having decided to stay in North Carolina, and with the aid
of his children's money having acquired a new plantation, "Hunthill,"
some thirty miles from Wilmington, wished them to return to the
province.
Owing to unexpected
circumstances connected with the outbreak of the Revolution in North
Carolina, the children, instead of remaining with their father, returned
to Scotland with Miss Schaw. Soon after, the boys, at this time thirteen
and ten years old, were placed in a free school in England under the
protection of Lord Townshend, an arrangement having been entered into in
1768, according to which the profits from the negroes left by the father
and mother were to be used during the father's lifetime to provide for
their education. But in the sequel this arrangement was found to be
inoperative, and the money actually used for the boys' education was
£700 from the Corbin estate (originally from Mrs. Corbin's first
husband, Colonel James Innes), which had been for many years in the
hands of Governor Dinwiddie, an intimate friend of Innes's and
lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1751 to 1758.
When the war of the
Revolution came on, Rutherfurd incurred considerable ill-will in North
Carolina by entering both boys in the British service, one in the army
and the other in the navy. John joined the corps of engineers, became a
practitioner engineer and second lieutenant in 1781, a first lieutenant
in 1790, a captain in 1795, an assistant quartermaster general at
Plymouth Dock in 1799, a major commandant of a corps attached to the
quartermaster general's department in 1800, and in 1805 a lieutenant
colonel. For a time he was stationed at Gibraltar, later at New
Brunswick and Jamaica, and in 1805 was surveyor-general of the island of
Trinidad. Soon after that date he was placed on the half pay list as of
the Royal Staff Corps, was secretary at Gibraltar in 1810, and died
sometime between February, i8iô, and March, 1817. After the close of the
Revolutionary War, he several times obtained leave of absence from the
army, and crossed the Atlantic in an effort to obtain a restitution of
the family property in North Carolina. He visited Charleston, made three
trips to Wilmington, and lived for a while in New York, where he may
have been entertained by his relative, Walter Rutherfurd, with whom he
had financial dealings, either at his New York house, next St. Paul's
Church, or at his estate at Boiling Springs, now Rutherford, New Jersey,
which he had called "Edgerston" after his old home in Scotland.` For
more than twenty-five years John labored to secure, for himself and his
brother and sister, the value of the land and the negroes. He was
probably never married.
"Little Billie" had a
more distinguished career. In 1778 he became a "Boy A B" and midshipman
on H. M. S. Suffolk, stationed in the Channel, and there served until
the end of the war. According to his brother's account, he was turned
adrift in 1783, entered the merchant marine, and served as fourth mate
of an Indiaman from 1783 to 1789. In 1787 he was in the East in Indian
waters, but in 1789 was back in London, living at Cornhill. Soon after,
he entered the royal navy again, finished his time as midshipman on
various guardships, and in 1794 became acting lieutenant on the Boyne,
in the West Indies with Sir John Jervis, afterwards Admiral Earl St.
Vincent.-:- He rose rapidly in rank. In July of the same year he was
commissioned commander, first of the Nautilus, and then of the
Adventure, and in November was appointed post captain of the Dictator.
In 1799 he was transferred to the Brunswick, then to the Decade,
remaining with the latter in the West Indies, the Channel, and the
Mediterranean as senior frigate captain under Admiral Lord Nelson, until
May, 1805. At that time he became acting captain of the Swiftsure, a new
third- rate seventy-four, and at Nelson's express wish was given
permanent command in July. In charge of this vessel he took part in
Nelson's famous pursuit of Villeneuve's fleet—the Toulon fleet—which had
sailed for the West Indies in the summer of 1805, in order to draw the
British admiral from the neighborhood of the Channel, to cross which for
the invasion of England Napoleon was waiting at Boulogne. While on his
return from the West Indies, Captain Rutherfurd wrote the following
letter.
Swiftsure at Sea, August
4th, 1805
My dear John:
I write this at sea to go to you when an opportunity offers. When we go
into harbour we are so much hurried that I have no time to write to
anybody except Lilly [his wife]. Young Millikin came to me at Gibraltar
last month. The boy has had a long hunt after me, as he left Dublin in
December last. Fifty pounds a year will be too much for him for some
time to come: he says he is to draw for money upon Mr. John Batchelor,
27 William's Street, Dublin, when he wants small sums. I will approve
his drafts upon that gentleman, of which I will thank you to apprise
him. I am sorry that I could do but little with Allan [not the young
Millikin mentioned above]. I therefore thought it best for him to leave
him in the frigate [the Decade] with Capt. Stewart. A stranger to him
and his connections may perhaps make him do better than I could. I
believe the frigate is left in the Mediterranean. We are now at sea with
Lord Nelson, and from the course he steers I think we are going to
England, at least I hope so; but he had not given us a hint of where we
are going; all we can judge is by the course. Perhaps you and your
friends may think it strange my leaving the frigate for a seventy-four,
but circumstances and times must be taken into account. When the ship
became vacant, I was senior frigate captain with Lord Nelson. He offered
me this ship when he was in hot pursuit of the Toulon fleet
[January-August, 1805]. It was impossible to refuse a fine new
seventy-four when we expected to be in action with the French fleet
every day. If the admiralty will allow me to keep this ship—and I see no
reason why they should not—the post is certainly a more honourable one
than a frigate; and I think prize-money times are almost passed, £500 a
year in this ship is better than Loo in the frigate. What a chase we
have had after those Toulon fellows. We have been in the West Indies;
had troops embarked at Barbadoes, making certain the French were
attacking Tobago or Trinidad. We went there, but no French were there.
We anchored at 6 in the evening at Trinidad, and sailed at 7 next
morning. I saw nothing of my brother John. We made sure they were
attacking Grenada, but when we got there no French fleet was there. We
then went to Antigua, where we heard the French fleet had passed that
island steering to the northward five days before. We landed the troops
immediately, and steered back for the Mediterranean. When we arrived at
Gibraltar we heard no account of the French fleet, but we knew they had
not passed that way. We got stores and water as fast as possible and the
fifth day we were out of the Straits again, and I now hope steering for
England. Lord Nelson, I believe, is generally thought to be merely a
fighting man; but he is a man of amazing resource and abilities, more
so, I think, than even Lord Vincent. I am afraid the constant anxiety he
has undergone has much hurt his health. The privations this little fleet
of eleven sail has gone through has been great; but it has been with
cheerfulness, because Lord Nelson commanded them. All our ships have now
a great many men down with the scurvy, which makes me think we must go
to England. If you do not know Lord Nelson, he is the most
gentlemanlike, mild, pleasant creature that was ever seen. Coming from
the \Vest Indies, I was upon salt beef and three quarts of water for a
month. We had no communication from the islands to get anything either
to eat or drink. Lord James is my mess-mate, and well and strong and
good; his time as mid[shipman] will be out in October. Tell my sister
[Fanny] George Burt [sic] is a good boy. I thought you would like to
hear the history of this fleet; therefore I must put you to the expense
of postage. Love to all at home.
Yours very truly,
WM. G. RUTHERFURD.
J. C. Beresford, Esq.
Beresford Place, Dublin.
[Has been posted at] Brixham 208, August 30, 1805.
From this interesting
letter—interesting not only for the light it throws on "little Billie's"
career but also as a commentary on Nelson and the West Indian expedition
of 1805—we learn several important facts that open up a new phase of our
story. John was stationed at Trinidad, Billie was married and his wife
was living in Dublin, and Fanny and her husband had removed from
Plymouth and had taken up their residence in the same city. We are
introduced to a number of new characters—J. C. Beresford, young Millikin
(William Frederick), and Lord James, of whom Beresford is the only one
that calls for further mention and something will be said of him later
on. The preservation of this letter, amongst the flotsam and jetsam of a
genealogist's notes—a letter the author of which was entirely unknown to
the writer of the volume in which it is printed—is a curious documentary
accident.
From the letter we learn
that Captain Rutherfurd was married. This event took place, August 27,
1795, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, and the bride was Lilias or
Lillias Richardson, eldest daughter of the late Sir George Richardson,
Ban,, of Queen Street (Gentleman's Magazine, 1795, p. 789). The marriage
settlement is dated August 27th of that year. Lilias died sometime
before 1833 without issue, but there appears to have been an adopted
son, John Henry Defou, of whom Rutherfurd speaks in his will, "commonly
called Henry Rutherfurd, of the age of 12 years, usually residing with
me except when at school" (P. C. C. 431 Creswell). Of this child we know
nothing more.
Captain Rutherfurd's
later career is a noteworthy one. As captain of the Swifisure he took
part in the battle of Trafalgar, October 21, i8o, contributing his share
to the winning of the great victory and escaping with but little
loss—nine men killed and eight wounded. In the official list of the
battle his name is given as "William George Rutherford" and
identification would have been difficult had it not been for the
discovery of his letter, his will, and the notice of his death. He
remained in command of the Swiftsure until his discharge in November,
1807, when he was placed on half pay; but for some reason, ten days
after his discharge, he was appointed captain of the Sea Fencibles, a
position that he retained until February, i8io, when he was again placed
on half pay. In 181 he was made a Companion of the Bath (on the
enlargement of that order) and the next year was appointed one of the
four captains of Greenwich Hospital, a position that made him an officer
of the house in residence, at a salary of £200 a year with table money.
Evidently the hardships which he had undergone told upon his health,*
for he died at the hospital in 1817 at the age of fifty-two. Thus
"little Billie," born in North Carolina, stands in history as one of the
"heroes of Trafalgar." In his will he leaves his Trafalgar sword and
medal to his nephew, his Sister's son, and these interesting relics, the
outward marks of a notable career, may still be somewhere in existence.
That Captain Rutherfurd should have been promoted by Nelson himself to
be a captain of a ship of the line was a rare distinction. Such an
advancement must have come as a reward for services rendered, probably
for good seamanship and personal bravery. North Carolina should take
pride in being the birthplace of so noteworthy a man.
Fanny, who in some ways
is the heroine of Miss Schaw's narrative, seems to have been an
attractive girl and the frequent references to her arouse our interest
and curiosity. She evidently made a strong appeal to those with whom she
Caine into contact and at least one love affair arose during her
residence on the Cape Fear (above, p. 183). But she returned to
Edinburgh in February, 1776, heart free, only to find a husband within
five months after her arrival. In September, 1776, she was married at
Edinburgh to Archibald Menzies of Culdairs, one of the commissioners of
the customs of Scotland. What romance or tragedy lies behind the bare
announcement of this marriage, we do not know. Whether it was a love
match or a manage de convenance is equally concealed. Menzies held an
important official Post to which he had been appointed in 1774, and his
salary of £600 a year may have been an attraction to the family. Fanny
was certainly "well married," as a contemporary correspondent wrote.
Whether Menzies was an elderly man or an invalid or both, we cannot say,
but the fact remains that Fanny's happiness was short-lived, for her
husband died at Inveresk in October, 1777, after a married life of but
little more than a year. A daughter was born of this marriage, Elizabeth
McKenzie Menzies, who afterwards became the wife of the John Claudius
Beresford, to whom Captain Rutherfurd wrote the letter cited above.
Where Fanny, with her daughter, spent the days of her young widowhood we
do not know, but she eventually found solace, for sometime in 1787—the
marriage settlement is dated April 28th of that year-.--she was married
again, and this time to her companion on the voyage to America, Janet's
brother, Alexander Schaw, storekeeper of ordnance on the gun wharf at
Plymouth, serving under the War Office at £140 a year.
Alexander Schaw was a
younger brother of Janet's and at the time of the journal may have been
thirty years old. We are told that he had been a writer in Edinburgh,
who, having got into difficulties, the nature of which we do not know,
decided to go to America and applied for a post in the customs service.
By commission of March 31, 1774, he received the office of searcher of
customs at St. Christopher. After leaving Antigua in January, 1775, he
went to St. Kitts with his sister and the children, but did not remain,
having obtained permission to go with the party to North Carolina, on
the understanding that he would return as soon as possible. That lie
intended to do this is clear, and at one time in the summer of 1775 it
looked as if he would take his sister and the children back from North
Carolina to St. Kitts; but events over which he had no control brought
about a complete change of plan, and in the summer of 1775 he was
entrusted by Governor Martin, at that time on board the Cruizer in the
Cape Fear River, with despatches for Lord Dartmouth. He consequently
returned to England by way of Boston, and remained there during the
winter, living in London. On March 6, 1776, he obtained formal leave of
absence from his post in St. Christopher, and there is reason to believe
that he never saw the West Indies again. As an Alexander Schaw was in
Canada from 1778 to 1781, employed in surveying stores and paying
corvées, it is likely that he went to Canada, remaining there until his
return to England to fill the more important position of storekeeper at
Plymouth.
At Plymouth Alexander
married Fanny, his erstwhile companion, who had called him "uncle" on
the voyage, and there they lived until in May or June, i8oi, they
removed to Dublin, where Alexander had secured, by appointment of the
Board of Ordnance (April 28, 1801), the post of storekeeper, an office
which with the additional duties of paymaster of salaries and allowances
brought him in more than £500 a year with house rent and candles. From
the Ordnance records we learn that in preparing for removal Alexander
objected to the sloop at first provided, on the ground that it was too
small, and asked for a brig, which was granted. After his arrival in
Dublin (.June 30), he wrote the board that his furniture and packages
had amounted to sixteen tons, and as they entirely filled the vessel, he
and his wife were obliged to obtain accommodation from one Canforth of
the Britannia yacht tender, at a fee of ten guineas (War Office,
Ordnance Book, 45: 56 and following volumes). By the middle of the
summer of i8oi he and his wife, servants, and furniture were
satisfactorily established in a house in Dublin, and there they remained
until sometime after 180. On August 5, 1803, Alexander was pensioned as
"superannuated" by the board, and retired on an allowance of £677 a year
(Irish money), but continued to live in Dublin, until sometime before
i8io, when he removed to Inveresk, Scotland. In Ireland he was one of
the members of the Dublin Society, but his name does not appear in the
list for 1810, and his will, which was made at Inveresk, November 22,
1810, shows that he was residing there at that time. When or where Fanny
died we do not certainly know but it was probably in Scotland. From her
brother's letter we learn that she was alive and living in Dublin in
1805, but in i8io, in Alexander's will, she is referred to as "my late
wife." She probably died at Inveresk shortly before, aged about
fifty-two or fifty-three. Alexander died in 1818.
By her marriage with
Alexander Schaw, Fanny had at least one child and probably more.
Alexander in his will speaks of this child, John Sauchie Schaw, as "my
son and only surviving child of the said marriage." When this son was
born is not quite certain, but it must have been some years after the
marriage in 1787, as he was not of age in 1810 and was not married until
1828. In 1819 he was a lieutenant of artillery in Dublin, and on March
14, 1828, entered into a marriage license bond of £1000 on the occasion
of his marriage with Catherine Louisa Sirr, of Dublin Castle, daughter
of the Rev. Joseph Darcv Sirr. He was living at the time at Cullenswood,
Dublin county. With his later career we are not concerned. |
